//------------------------------// // Chapter 45 // Story: Away and Afar // by PropsValroa //------------------------------// Jump Start stayed by the fire for a little bit. If the way she occasionally dug her hoof into the ground to mark places was any indication, she was planning on exactly how big the grill should be. Eventually she got bored of just thinking through things and took the hint to join the others, curling down next to Collapse as usual. Quickly saying goodnight, she prepared to go to sleep. However despite the fact that the sun had set a short amount of time ago, Collapse could still see the blue reflective glow from the nearby river, but it was dimmer, and seemed to have moved. Something was out there. Whatever it was though, it got dimmer and dimmer. Soon she wouldn't be able to see it at all. Collapse layed there for a bit until she noticed the blue glow in the river. Neither of them likely wanted to go out and see what it was but she told Jump Start and Magloria about it. Collapse was a bit concerned as to what it could be, but was mostly curious. If Magloria wanted them to go out there she wouldn't object, but it's not something she'd go out of her way to do. Maybe tomorrow night they could stay up later and see what it was. After telling them, Collapse would cuddle up to Jump Start and gently wrap her tail around her. This time she was more properly cuddling her, if her legs around Jump Start was any indication. Magloria didn't want to go after it. As long as it didn't disturb them, they wouldn't disturb it. Jump Start didn't want to go after it either, but for a different reason. She wanted to go to sleep instead of chase strange glows at night. Jump Start also didn't mind what Collapse did, simply preferring to sleep like a brick until morning came. The next morning when Collapse woke up, she immediately felt... damp? Why was she feeling damp? Worse, why did she feel hot? She couldn't feel Jump Start next to her. When she opened her eyes she found out why. All around the camp was a thick grey mist, blocking their visibility, making everything wet to touch and weighing things down. And worst of all, the oppressive heat of the jungle was made even more intense by the humidity, since they couldn't effectively lose the heat anymore. Jump Start looked miserable and unkempt as she sat next to a block of melting ice, while Magloria covered their belongings in various large leaves to stop the water getting on them. Collapse stretches out and makes a move to snuggle around Jump Start. "Mhmm...*Jumpy*..." she whispered and opened her eyes only to find that Jump Start wasn't there. She instantly took note of the thick mist and woke up fully before standing up. For a second she thought that something went wrong but then she realized it was just the weather. She glanced over, seeing Jump Start's miserable look before she went over to her and gave her a gentle boop on the nose. She giggles gently, hoping she could make her a little happier. "Welp, we have some time to kill it seems, and...as it seems by the weather its unfortunately very hot." Collapse sighs, smirking slightly at the joke she made. It was very hot, but it was made even hotter when she was around two mares. "I don't suppose we'd wanna fire up a grill in this weather, huh?" she remarks with a sigh. Jump Start reacted to the boop, but not as well as Collapse would've liked. She merely smiled for a brief second before returning to her miserable expression. "No. Let's not do that. That would just make everything even hotter, and that would be even *woooorse* than it is now." she moaned, leaning against the cold block of ice even more than she already was. Magloria looked over to them after finishing off the rest of the coverings. "Well we should still do something today, regardless of how hot it is. More woodcutting is an idea, but it might exhaust everyone. Could try and build some things if we have the means to." she suggested "I wanna go for a swim." Jump Start blurted out. "That... is also an option. Would be a good opportunity to check what's in the river so we don't get any nasty surprises later." Magloria replied. "We can go for a swim but let's make sure there isn't any parasites or anything bad in the river as well." Collapse spoke and pulled away from Jump Start to give her more space. Collapse wasn't going to be cutting down any trees today for sure due to the intense heat. Maybe it had rained while they were asleep and it's an extra hot day or something like that. Collapse stood up and slid her boots on as well as getting her other gear on her after she stretched. She looks to them, "Let's go check out the river. Maybe we'll find out what caused that weird blue glow that we saw. Magloria looked slightly miffed that her attempt to keep their stuff dry was wasted, since they were just going to take some of it regardless. She accepted it though, knowing that it was a possibility that would've happened anyway. Levitating Jump Start's saddlebags over while equipping her own, she began leading them in the direction of the river. It didn't take long for them to arrive, though the mist around them did make it take a little longer, both by messing with their sense of direction and the discomfort of it all. The river looked the same as it usually did, if a bit more eerie with only being able to see a small amount of it up and down. Still, it looked refreshing and cool. Collapse didn't see any blue glow around or within the river, or anywhere in the location around it, however. Whatever it was that she saw wasn't here anymore. Collapse walks along relatively quietly to the shores of the river and looks at it carefully to make sure nothing would suddenly come out and attack them. Whatever blue glow was here was gone, perhaps it could be some sort of plankton or algae that glows in the dark. Who knows. "Hey I have an idea, Magloria. You can make things out of ice? I would imagine you would be pretty good at making popsickles or snowcones. Use our fruits as a flavoring, some coconut, and we'd have a pretty good popsickle or snowcone." Collapse mentioned casually in an attempt to strike up a conversation. The mist around the area made Collapse a little un-nerved to say the least. The mist made the job of keeping an eye out for predators much harder to do (as did her damp, heavy mane whenever it flopped into her face on accident) but even despite these difficulties she didn't manage to spot anything that would be of danger to them, aside from a few small tree snakes that rested on some of the branches near the river. Magloria looked down at the water to inspect it for anything dangerous, then back up to Collapse to address her. "Of course I could. Who do you think added those ice cubes to your drink while you were chopping trees? Or made that ice block that Jump Start was sitting next to?" she asked in reply, before continuing. "I might as well do something like that in this weather though." She said in a slightly softer tone, "Wouldn't be right to force you to suffer like this when I could easily do something about it. Still, if alternatives like this river are available, best use that instead." Meanwhile, Jump Start was looking in the water even closer, searching for anything that looked dangerous. Seeing nothing, she decided to take her first couple steps in, immediately enjoying the cool feeling of river water brushing over her forehooves. "That's muuuuuch better..." she mumbled in delight. Hopefully there wouldn't be anything dangerous in the river. With a gold flash Collapse's boots are unsummoned and she walks into the river following after Jump Start. Upon feeling the cool feeling of the water on her hooves she lets out a soft groan in delight. "Ooooohhh yes...that feels so good." she remarked with a slight giggle at the end of her word. Her eyes look back towards Magloria after taking a few moments to soak in the feeling of the cool water by her hooves. Her eyelids closed a bit when she looked into Magloria's eyes for a brief moment. She was imagining Magloria rubbing some ice cubes on her back on a very hot day. That'd feel even better? "Hehe, yes. Nothing feels better than drinking cold water after a hard day's work. Perhaps for lunch we could have some fruity popsickles? Hmm, have you ever made a popsickle or something like that before? I imagine that you'd be able to make a good amount of sales if you had like, a stand and you made popsickles for ponies on a hot summer day." she remarked casually. It was a nice wholesome thought, wasn't it? Perhaps Magloria did that as a filly when she first learned her ice abilities. A lemonade stand with some nice chilled lemonade. Jump Start took a few more steps into the river, careful not to go in too deep where she'd lose her footing and start floating down the river. Something that they had to be careful about, especially since the mist would make a rescue harder, and they no longer had protection from drowning. To compensate, Jump Start squatted down, letting more of her body get covered in the water until it was right across her back, leaving only her neck and head above the flowing river. Magloria shook her head as she sat down on the shoreline, uninterested in going into the water, for some reason. "I have done a couple times to test out reactions with food, but nothing done for anyone else. Never got asked any time that wasn't just a fading curiosity or a joke." "Most of the time they had other ways to cool off, or didn't care so much about the heat. I didn't care about it either. Much preferred solid foods as opposed to eating frozen liquids." she explained. Noticing what Jump Start was doing and in part of her own carefulness she would replicate what Jump Start was doing. Collapse kept her focus on Magloria but would occasionally look over to Jump Start as if watching out for her. She was. Collapse moved a bit closer to where Magloria was as she listened. "Well this time is serious, because I seriously think you'd be good at making some frozen fruits and stuff like that. I mean, I'd always eat the ice cubes out of the cups. I like the way ice crunches in my mouth." she spoke, as if trying to see if Magloria would acquiesce to making some frozen things to eat at some point. Perhaps now, Collapse certainly wouldn't mind. "You wanna come in the water with us? It feels reallyyyyyy good." Collapse spoke as she moved in a way so only her face and ears were sticking above the water. One could say seeing the yellow mare's face in the water like that was cute.